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Marooned in Iraq is the latest film from Iranian-based Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi, who won acclaim for his first effort, A Time for Drunken Horses. The story touches on Saddam Hussein's brutal crackdown on the Kurds in the 1980s, but it's really a "road movie musical" with an often comic sensibility. Pat Dowell reports.

Thomas Edward Lawrence was the dashing, romanticized British officer credited with leading the Arab revolt against the Turks during World War I -- a feat depicted in the epic film Lawrence of Arabia. But his true story and legacy is still a subject of debate among historians. NPR's Jacki Lyden reports on the man and the myth. View rare portraits of Lawrence and characters from his classic book, Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph.

This month, Angola celebrated its first year of relative peace following 27 years of brutal civil war. The impact of that long-lasting conflict on Angola's children is documented in a new book, Free to Play in Peace. Published by the Christian Children's Fund, the book is a collection of drawings, poems and essays that express the children's memories of war and hopes for a future without it. See a gallery of the drawings online.

Gregor Piatigorsky, the Russian cello virtuoso, used to talk about "tasting the blood" of music -- music as destiny. "You are taken by it," he said. Piatigorsky also was taken by the works of art he collected. Samples of his collection -- along with his prized Stradivarius cello -- are on exhibit in Baltimore. NPR's Susan Stamberg reports.

The Stax Museum of American Soul Music opens Friday in Memphis, Tenn., honoring the recording studio that once churned out hundreds of R&B and pop hits. The Stax studio -- built in a movie theater that once stood on the same site as the new museum -- drew music talent from all over the South, including Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes. Stax became known for the trademark rich, gritty soul that defined its sound. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports.

The new Al Pacino movie People I Know offers an acid portrait of Manhattan politics, and Pacino provides the story with a complex, nuanced anti-hero. NPR's Bob Mondello offers a review.

The 22-year-old American topped a competitive field Thursday in Beijing. Figure skaters from Japan came in second and third.

The comic book mutants known as the X-Men are back on the big screen. X2: X-Men United, packs in more characters -- good and evil -- than the first X-Men film. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan offers a review.

One of the most enduring fairy tale motifs is that of a beautiful princess confined high up in a tower. In The Red Wolf, a new book by Margaret Shannon, that princess is named Roselupin, and she passes the time by knitting and plotting her escape. Daniel Pinkwater, NPR's ambassador to the world of children's literature, joins NPR's Scott Simon to read from the book.

Songwriter Felice Bryant dies at age 77 at home in Gatlinburg, Tenn. She collaborated with her husband to pen some of the best-known tunes in country music and early rock 'n' roll. Her songs Bye Bye Love and Wake Up Little Susie were Everly Brothers standards, just as Rocky Top became a country standard. NPR's Melissa Block offers a remembrance.